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TiCE " , higher problems of philosophy , touching appearance and reality , knowledge and existence , being and knowing , and the extent to which the one is an index or measure of the other , notwithstanding their attenuated and abstract character , seem to possess an indestructible vitality . No sooner is it imagined that the world is finally rid of them , than they return , like the ghost of Hamxet ' s father or murdered Ba . nquo , to disturb our fancied security—to convince the sceptical , stimulate the irresolute , and appal the bold . Though continually attacked and stabbed by logical daggers in a score of places , the least of which " were death to nature , " these brainless abstractions ¦ of . aaetaphysics will not die . Alternately derided as puerile , denounced as ittrfcfcd , calmly dismissed as belonging to an outworn stage of human proc ess , ^> r abandoned as beyond the range of human thought , they nevertheless < jtmtraually reappear . The reason is sufficiently obvious ; the means of attack . and defence , of hurt and healing , being in reality the same . The weapon that -wounds , like the spear of Achilles , can also heal— ' Unde datum est vulnus , csntigit inde salus . ' One part of the mind may war against another , the senses fighting against the intellect , * aiid the intellect against the senses , but never , of course , really suffers loss by any such conflict ; what is lost on one side is gained on the other ; partial systems supplant each other , or catholic speculation restores \ riiat sectarian speculation had apparently destroyed . Eeason thus always avenges the wrongs inflicted by itself , and the body of gjbilosophic science , though continually assailed at different points , is pre--serred in its integrity .
Some curious illustrations of this remedial action or reaction may be found in the recent history of philosophy amongst ourselves . Take , for instance , M . i Gomte ^ s system of philosophy . Positivism a few years ago excited a great deal-of attention in . this country , was debated amongst scientific men , < Higenily studied at the . universities , popularized in convenient manuals , and accepted by ^ amumber of ar dent disciples . Under its influence metaphysics was redueed to physics , psychology to physiology . Just at the time , however , ¦ when mental seemed on the point of finally giving way in favour of material soience , a philosophic work appeared , which at once abolished matter in the aaest summary "way , derided experiment and observation as radically delusive , . aad claimed for metaphysics a supreme and despotic control throughout the satire domain of existence . Professor E-ERBXEr , in his Theory of Knowing xtnd Being , undertook to furnish a ' Euclid' of philosophy , to establish a transcendental system of metaphysics with mathematical certainty , to demonstrate in . a series of propositions a doctrine of idealism of the most exalted . and . absolute kind . This is , no doubi , an extreme instance , but the asame . "g eneral tendency may be illustrated -on the lower ground of rational ^ psychological inquiry . While one class of inquirers seem more and more disposed , to consider the mind simply as brain , and nerve , to degrade psychology io physiology , another class are striving to raise it into the higher regions of « oniology . This is attempted both at Oxford and Edinburgh , the two jibHosophical centres of the empire : at Oxford , by Mr . Mansel , in his treatise . Jtf £ * p £ ysf s , recently contributed to the Enayolopcedia Britannica , and noticed ' by us three weeks ago ; at Edinburgh , -by Professor Fraseu , Sir W . HJAJJtli / roN ' s successor , in a short treatise entitled Rational Philosophy in History and in System , lately published as-an introduction to his logical and aaeiaphysical course . Rational philosophy , or' the science of ultimate truth , ihas , in Professor I ? ii . aseii ' s view , two branches- —logic and metaphysics ; the former being the science of formal truth , or the harmony of thought with its K > wa > necessary conditions ; the latter , the science of real truth , or the relation of 1 the universe to the beliefs of reason . The one investigates the cagjaciity of" thought , the other the relations of thought to oxistence . It is . under tho . latter head that the ontologic&L tendency becomes apparent . 13 at ¦ t he iScotoh Professor , faithful to his national instincts , is more cautious rthan 'tne'Qsiford tutor . While he maintains that wo have a direct , he . allows at siac same time that it is only a relative .. knowledge of reality . Ho docs not , like Mr .. Mmssej * , vindicate a knowledge of tho -absolute to man , or attempt to establish an ontology . 'The essay breathes a calm and philosophic spirit , shows ( Considerable insight into the questions 'discussed , ana is written in a clear , though rather stiff'nnd abstract stylo . The following extract , from the closing { pages will illustrate its general spirit and purpose : — Reid and Kant in Inst ^ jentury—Hamilton . and Cousin in tlus— -on a liberal intorjpret&tion , and with a duo . allowance for the individuality- of each , have sown tho scads it that latest growth of the Catholic Philosophy of Insolublo Realism , . which is now In progress to maturity . It is a Philosophy which rocoynissos both ; tho Mental Power and the Mental Impotence of man ; and which profosses to roar tho fabric of philosophical doctrino en tho universal facts of our Qonsoicms experience , —whether or ¦^ oT'tKSBoTaTff oyT ^ genius of this Philosophy to decline , aa beyond ita scope , the , Transcendental Problems wbibh ihave brought sceptics and dogmatists into collision , in Metaphysics , Thoology , latd tbe other fields of intellectual labour , while it gathers -wisdom and insight from thoso collisions . Catholic Realism is tho preparation for a thorough-going application of the . Novum ObAakum to ouw wjiomd conscious uvn , i-tand not merely to tho ' |) benomena of the external world , contingently presented to consciousness . It involves ^• application of tho modern Method , to Metaphysics and Theology ,, and not merely to : Physic ^ and Social Solonco . It is human Jtnowlodgq hold . and extendod in tho spirit of'Socrates , and Bacon , and Pascal .
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Critias-aTe-notthalegislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not ^ aakelaw 3—thly interpret and try to enforce i&fzoa .. —Edinburgh Review . ?
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M . LANFREY ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION . . Easai sur la Revolution Franqaise . Par P . Lanfrey . Paris : Chamerot . One of the most remarkable characteristics of the French Revolution is the enormous nunaber of commentaries it has produced . They increase duy by day . Already , no ordinary library could contain this one department of political literature . Each generation , almost every member of each < rimeration , has peculiarViews of this most important epoch in the history of France . No wonder . At that time were discussed or put in practice sill the momentous principles which are still at work , producing a new society out of the corruption of an old one . M . Lanfrey ' s book , despite all that lias been already said on this frequentl y studied but not exhausted subject , is as individual as if he hud no predecessors . This is perhaps the highest praise we can give it . To be new in treating of things which every one has treated before is no easy task . It supposes ardent study cf original documents , a personal interest , in the debate , a sum of doctrinal knowledge , and , above all , experience and comprehension of the requirements of the present time . There are two kinds of historical writing popular now-a-days : that which paints past events in colours borrowed from past times , and attempts no 'improvements '—the most perfect in an artistic point of view ; and that which wrings instruction from the chaotic mass of chronicled incidents , and disengages the progress or the conflict of ideas from the , facts b y which they tire at once signified and obscured . Were M . Lanfrey to write a regular history , he would probably belong to tbe latter school ; and he would employ the charms of his style rather to draw a moral than to develop a dr « rna . As it is , we find this Essay on the French Revolution , small as is its compass , to be a complete and excellent narrative of the development of political ideas from the convocation of the States General to the Convention . It is not necessary for us to take part with M . Lanfrey in all his judgments . He is sometimes severe , and loves to strike at personages who have been tbe bugbears and the scarecrows of opposing parties for half a century . A republican by education , by tendency , by conviction—or rather a liberal who has received the whole inheritance of the eighteenth century—he approaches Robespierre with a-stiff neck and a stubborn knee , and having examined him on every side , points to him with mocking finger and exclaims : " What ! is this unhappy bigot , this virtuous fanatic , this narrow-minded , cold-hearted purveyor of the guillotine , with the best intentions , to be our type ? Shall we , by adopting his name as our watchword , deliberately condemn ourselves for evermore to be classed in the minds of a . 11 quiet and respectable citizens as assassins ? What did he do for us ? Whither did his policy tend ? We might have forgiven the blood he shed , had lie shown us a noble result . But as his means were tyranny , so his end was slavery . Freedom and he had never anything in common . It is monstrous to talk of his dictatorship as the . logical result of the revolution . On the contrary , 'twas its exaggeration and its death . When he thought he was giving the last blow to pi'ivilege , he was like a man furiously stabbing a corpse long since lifeless . His cruelties were nearly all unnecessary . Therefore , they must be condemned without appeal . "
We hasten to say that this is merely an interpretation of M . Lanfrey s remarkable chapter in which he gives the coup de grace to the Mountain . It is a significant and hopeful symptom that a young writer should venture on tbis bold line at the present moment , when , by a sort of foolish sentimentalism among opponents of the present regime in France , it is attempted to be made etiquette not to attauk anything that has gone before , lest strength be given to what is . The stagnation of ideas which this hollow ourtesy produced required to be stirred . But courage to do so would not lmve been found if a new generation were not coming on the scene . There is nothing so damaging in politics as the influence of old men who have once been the heroes of the day . There are exceptional cases . Some nioii never grow old . But as a rule , however ungracious it may seem to say so , living celebrities and dead celebrities must be put upon the shelf before any progress can be made . It is the office of criticism to perform this disagreeable duty . M . Lanfrey lias done good service in separating tlie cause of Liberalism from the cause of the Mountain and its apologists . The reason of the sensation which his work has caused in all thinking circles in Paris is precisely the moderation of its opinions . This moderation has nothing to do with compromise ; neither is it the moderation of indifference , it consists in a calm and wise way of viewing the events of an eventful period , of disengaging principles from circumstances , and of judging the . actions of men in their beurings on t \ m general progress of Immunity rather than in their temporary effects . This kami / on the French ' ller < ilnlioii should become the manual of all young politicians in Finance ; it should ba read here , as giving the key to many enigmas and as likely to dispel many prejudices . Englishmen are too apt to wonder at the passionate attachment of all that is young nnd generous nnd enlightened for a period which is usually painted as u gloomy drama—fertile in emotions , it is true , but of terror , not of sympathy . In this book , better than any other that wo know of , the true meaning of the great convulsion which closed the hist century in Franco ia explained . Wo here sou clearly liow the cry and the passion for equality , favoured by circumstances , overcame and stifled for a timo tho cry and tho passion for liberty ; butwo eeo ultto that the French Revolution , being produced by a century of free thinking , wna essentially u movement in favour of freedom . Tins truth has almost ulwuys been obscured , bocuuso nearly all -who have . written of the Revolution of lute , whether partisans or opponents , have belonged to schools which regard tho individual man « -3 nothing , nnd think only of tho State But it is evident to any one w' 10 WuUsnlfOHEidfnifftbT ^^ declaration of tho ' Rights of Alan , ' that tl » o idea of liberty wn « us clearly in the minds of those legislators , hurriedly elioson I ' vom maids ! , a publio accustomed to practise servility , but who had long been taught to druwn oi better things , us it was in the minda of the founders of the American Hopublio . Tho reason of the disproportionate importance whioli the idua ol equality—tho bane of Franco—by degrees acquired was tho uxisumuo ot numerous privileges fur more galling and oHenaivo than tho royal povvoi ' i against whiou the ohief effort of the Revolution wus directed . Iduus may ho
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Leader (1850-1860), March 20, 1858, page 282, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2235/page/18/
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